According to Boyer, AOPA originally did what he calls the psychographic analysis some ten years ago to determine why its pilot members fly. The pilots fell into five categories …

20% - ‘Be all you can be’
10% - ‘Auto pilots’ … little emotional reward; flying is “a job”
18% - The ‘experientials’ …those who fly for the experience
27% - The ‘evangelists’ … very emotional about flying and very active at the airport
25% - The ‘dreamers’ … they rent; don’t own; fly the least and aren’t active at the airport

The association recently redid the same survey, at which time the new “no monkey business” group surfaced. The latest results …

19% - ‘Be all you can be’
8% - ‘Auto pilots’
31% - ‘Experientials’
12% - ‘Evangelists’
11% - ‘Dreamers’
19% - the ‘no monkey business’ flyers … goal-oriented; “This is a means of transportation.”

In other words, the results show that, at a minimum, a fifth of GA pilots today see the aircraft as a tool, which falls in line with the growth of business aviation over the past 15 years. What may be a growing concern, however, is the significant drop in ‘evangelists’, those who Boyer calls the “poster children of GA” and the group that tends to be most active in airport issues.

Meanwhile, Boyer expresses concern in the continuing drop in the pilot population, which today he puts at less than 600,000 for the first time in 25 years. In response, AOPA has launched a “Let’s Go Flying” campaign to “cast a wider net” to attract newcomers to flying. Check it out at www.letsgoflying.com.

Thanks for reading. jfi

“We think we’re facing the need to form a partnership with smaller communities and their airports,” says Brown. “And when it comes to security, I think there’s an opportunity for a partnership there as well.”

Brown calls business aviation in the U.S. a “fairly mature market,” but reports that the industry segment is experiencing double-digit growth offshore. And, while the entry of very light jets into the market could in time have an impact, he says the movement is more of an evolution than a tsunami.

As part of the partnership, Brown calls on communities to use “good science” when considering restrictions to their airfields and cautions that putting restrictions on business aviation could be a detriment to their access to the air transportation network. He says there has been “way too much creativity” by some communities to hinder their airport operations, particularly in Connecticut, Florida, and California.

“As the carriers pull out of communities, there’s an opportunity for business aviation to fill the void,” says Brown.

He also advises airports that NBAA has a staff of some 85 technical support personnel who can aid communities when proposals for airfield restrictions arise, and he encourages airports to contact the association to see how the two segments can better work together in the future.

Thanks for reading. jfi

Nobody ever got a better sendoff than Don Langford.

It’s hard to describe Don, because he was so many things. He was a writer (check out his aviation book, Are We There Yet?), a FedEx pilot experienced in everything from Cubs to 747s (including cropdusters, helicopters, LSA, ultralights, and gliders), an ATP mechanic, a homebuilder, engineer, and LSA distributor. He had flown thousands of hours all over the world and wasn’t finished yet.

Don had just sold an LSA amphib, and he and the new owner (also a very experienced pilot) were flying in the aircraft.  We really don’t know how it happened, but somehow they ended up upside down in the Tennessee River. None of us could believe it.

A crowd of Don’s relatives, general aviation friends, and airline pilot friends showed up for the funeral. (I’ve not seen that many airline uniforms in one place since they gave away free copies of USA Today at the Atlanta Airport.) 

Later there was another crowd at a covered dish dinner in Don’s honor at Moontown Airport outside of Huntsville, AL, where Don hangared his Wag-A-Bond.

Four of us spoke briefly at the funeral service, and it quickly became evident that most everybody there had been helped by Don Langford. He had helped so many with mechanical problems, instructed others, and befriended others in a thousand ways.

Don had helped me in a way I will never forget. My son Kevin discovered computers at the age of ten. At 12 he bought one (half his money and half ours). His mother and I couldn’t keep up. We didn’t know what he was talking about half the time, and we had a not-so-secret fear that he might end up breaking into NASA’s computer (we lived in Huntsville, AL).

When Kevin was 14, Don Langford got Kevin a job with a small computer engineering company. Kevin worked there after school and weekends until he went off to college. Today Kevin is an engineer himself, and vice president of a Silicon Valley computer hardware/software company. I credit those years of his youth spent working with adult engineers.

I credit Don Langford.

Don left a huge hole in aviation and in the lives of many aviators.

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AIRPORT BUSINESS was originally launched as FBO magazine in 1986; in 1993, we added airport managers into the circulation mix and changed the name to reflect the change. Shortly after our launch we added the popular ‘Fuel Watch’ department, which tracks monthly retail fuel sales and prices for jet-A and avgas at airports across the U.S. The numbers come from Avcard, which tracks its credit card sales and then provides us with composite numbers for various markets. The department has been quite popular with fixed base operations, other airport-based businesses, and airport managers.

As we put together our August issue of AIRPORT BUSINESS we came across an issue we hadn’t encountered before. The numbers on avgas sales in U.S. markets has so deteriorated that Avcard was unable to provide us meaningful numbers for most of the markets.

Meanwhile, surfing the Web this morning, I found two stories that relate: one tells of an environmental group that is again pushing EPA to force aviation to get the lead out of 100LL avgas; the other tells of the decline in general aviation in Australia, where fuel prices and the loss of GA airports are serving as catalysts.

Reading the tea leaves, it’s not difficult to foresee change on the GA horizon. Defining the change is a bit tougher. Will we see a category of aircraft (pistons) begin to disappear? Or will new engines and alternative fuels provide new opportunity and new growth?

A bigger question may be: Will the declining numbers in avgas sales lead to the decision by oil companies to quit producing the product? Of all the products that an oil company extracts out of a barrel of oil, avgas is at the bottom of the opportunity list.

Thanks for reading. jfi

The story is that Cap’n Randy is licensed to check out anyone in any airplane, whether he has ever flown that model before. I don’t understand that, so don’t ask me for details.

Recently I talked with one Hugh Wheelless, Jr. who grew up as the son of Hugh Senior, a legendary man who owned and ran a very large aerial application (cropduster for the unwashed) operation in Dothan, AL. At one time they operated a fleet of B-17s which they used, oddly enough, to spread Mirex poison to kill fire ants in the south.

Hugh, Jr. mentioned to me that one of those B-17s was the currently-famous “Aluminum Overcast.” I hadn’t known that and was greatly impressed. I sent a message to Cap’n Randy because I knew he had worked with Hugh Wheelless, Sr. at one time, and I wasn’t sure he knew about the Wheelless-Aluminum Overcast connection. I should have known better.Cap’n Randy sent back to me a detailed account of the entire history of the Aluminum Overcast, including everyone who ever owned the airplane before, during, and after the Wheelless ownership.You could have knocked me over with a feather. The things this man knows and on which he keeps records is absolutely astounding.If you would like to know how to get a copy of Cap’n Randy’s history of Aluminum Overcast, please leave your name and e-mail address in the comment section or write directly to me at ralph@ralphhood.com.

Good for him. He may not be Wyatt Earp, but DeCosta is taking the lead in seeing that guns don’t proliferate in his territory.

Of course, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that reaffirmed an individual’s right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, it was expected that new legal battles would arise over gun ownership. It’s just nearly impossible to believe that the first significant battle would come at a U.S. airport, where the need for security has become inherent since 9/11.

Says DeCosta, “We have the legal grounds to take this stand, and we are also driven by my unwavering belief that guns have no place at airports.” While DeCosta cites the Georgia Code (Section 16-11-127) that includes a “public gathering exception,” Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin is calling on Washington to resolve the issue. One suggestion: Mandate that any public facility receiving federal funding be declared a gun-free zone.

DeCosta also cites support from airport groups, AAAE and ACI-NA, and quotes AAAE president Chip Barclay who, in a letter of support, says that “any and all attempts to prohibit weapons from our nation’s airports are necessary and must be supported.”

This is not about gun ownership rights; it’s about sanity. We already have enough stress bouncing off the airport terminal walls these days without having to worry if half the folks hanging out pre-security are packing weapons – concealed, no less.

Writer Jay Bookman of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution may have said it best: “Like so much about the gun issue, this is more about symbolism than practical effect. But the symbolism in this case works against the gun lobby, which may find it has significantly overreached and chosen poor ground on which to fight.”

Thanks for reading. jfi

We lived in Huntsville for 28 years, from November of 1978 to November of 2006, so this hit hard. We aren’t sure at this time if we know any of the families involved, but this being an aviation event almost dictates that we do. I had received a generous invitation to attend the air show and enjoy the VIP tent. I was flattered by the invitation, but was unable to make it.

We anxiously await more news.

Change of subject…

It seems that the airlines have finally grasped the idea that continuous losses are not sustainable and that reducing capacity might be the best solution. I wish them well.

I’d give them one other suggestion—make their websites more user friendly. They are absolutely miserable. Last week I spent hours trying to buy one admittedly complicated ticket. Today I did it again.

Gail and I have only one grandchild and he lives in Boston. We had 109,000 miles in Gail’s Delta account and wanted to use them to purchase tickets so that each of us could go roundtrip to BOS for 25,000 miles, leaving us with enough miles to go again later this year. We couldn’t get that done on the website. In spite of the fact that they advertise domestic flights for 25,000 miles per person roundtrip, the lowest cost we could find was 50,000 miles per person.

I gave up twice and tried to get the tickets by telephone for an extra $50 per trip. I got one person I couldn’t understand at all, another person I could almost understand who told me there was no way to get 25,000 mile tickets, and finally, a real live human being in Atlanta who spoke American. Janice solved our problem. True, we had to change to a much less desirable schedule, but we expected that all along. Janice made us happy.

The thing that makes me mad is that it’ll have to be done all over again for the next trip. In the meantime, I hope Delta realizes what a jewel they have in Janice.

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The IPS study takes the Air Transport Association (the airlines) and FAA’s current stance that business aviation needs to pay more for the operation of the air traffic control system. To some extent, the bizav groups have already accepted that notion, agreeing that an increase in the fuel excise tax is appropriate in an era of rising costs and the need to modernize ATC. Comments National Business Aviation Association president Ed Bolen, “This report is 30 pages of nothing but outrageous claims and the warmed-over rhetoric used by the nation’s big airlines. It is unfortunate that at a time when businesses are struggling and communities are losing air service, we see political screed masquerading as a policy report.”

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association, in a press release, adds, “In an effort to speed the modernization of the antiquated ATC system in the U.S., the general aviation industry has expressed to Congress its willingness to pay an even higher fuel tax. This commitment to ‘pony up for modernization’ was made despite the fact that the airlines refuse to pay any more taxes to improve the current ATC system. GA industry support has been nearly universal for the current FAA reauthorization proposal in the House and the Senate that would increase general aviation’s contribution by over 36 percent, or an additional $290 million, while the airlines will contribute no additional new money.”

The IPS study also charges that business aviation is a major polluter, offering the analogy that one bizjet trip eats as much fuel as one American does annually driving a car. IPS would also like to see heavy taxation of the industry, money to be used for airport infrastructure and mass transit.

Where the wheel comes off this axle for me is two-fold. One, IPS calls for a luxury tax on general aviation aircraft. Apparently, their study of history skipped over the luxury tax idea of some 20 years ago – a move that almost single-handedly destroyed non-airline aircraft manufacturing in this country. Two is the failure to acknowledge the important role business aviation plays in commerce for smaller communities. The latter is a key determinant in FAA’s ongoing mission of maintaining a system of airports, one not solely focused on commercial carriers.

At a time when our air transportation system is struggling and small communities are losing access to the system via the airlines, over-taxing the one segment that is holding its own seems at best inappropriate.

Thanks for reading. jfi

AOPA interviewed a pilot who is in jail after he crashed his Stearman into a river, killing his passenger (go to http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2008/accident0807.html). He was jailed for only a 30-day sentence, but it raises many questions.

One of my first reactions to this story was that Ted Kennedy served no time at all for crashing his auto into a river, killing a passenger. His case seems to me to have involved far more egregious behavior than did the pilot’s accident.

The pilot was indeed guilty of bad behavior (all of this is only my opinion), but criminal behavior? He did knowingly break regs and the accident resulted because of that violation. Was this criminal? As Bill Clinton might have said, depends on the definition of criminal.

In cars, DUI is criminal by law and by custom and can bring jail time. Speeding and failure to stop at a stop sign seldom do. On the other hand, when they cause fatal accidents, both can bring liability lawsuits in the millions of dollars. So, can such suits be brought against pilots? (The pilot in question faces such a lawsuit right now.) We’re used to that and buy liability insurance to protect ourselves. But jail? You just can’t buy a “Get-Out-of-Jail-Free” card except in the game of Monopoly.

My non-flying friends seem to be in favor of the pilot going to jail. My flying friends vary all over the board between “hang him” and “no pilot should go to jail for an accident.” What do you think? AOPA would like to know (see their link above) and so would I.

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STG analyzed the number of one-way U.S. domestic passenger-trips by fare category and developed estimates of ridership on business aircraft (jets and turboprops). Premium airline traffic is defined as those passengers traveling on first class, discounted first class, business class, discounted business class, and full-fare coach tickets as reported by the U.S. Department of Transportation. “As a group, the number of premium trips has fallen from 20 percent of overall airline travel prior to 9/11 to less than 10 percent of airline travel,” comments STG managing director Gerald Bernstein. According to STG, some 16 million one-way trips are taken annually on business jets and turboprops. Just eight years ago, business aviation travel accounted for only 16 percent of the number of premium airline trips.

Of course, business aviation is rapidly becoming integrated into the global marketplace, which accounts for the strong order books at the general aviation manufacturers. Yet, in the U.S., bizjet owners more and more are shopping fuel price at fixed base operators and, according to one key source, are changing flight procedures to cut back on fuel usage. In fact, some 93 percent are changing flight procedures, while some 19 percent are cutting back on hours flown, according to one report.

For FBOs, the good news is that bizav remains a solid player. Their best customers haven’t thrown in the towel. The bad news is the impact on revenues and profits, which ultimately will impact how FBOs do business.

Should the U.S. Congress ever return to its responsibility of passing long-term aviation reauthorization, it might want to make sure it doesn’t overtax the one segment of aviation that continues to be stable.

Thanks for reading. jfi